The invention relates to a closure of plastics material on a container (particularly a bottle) which serves to receive and deliver liquids or pastes. The closure of this container has a retractable turnspout.
Such a closure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,847,313. The turnspout mentioned therein is rotatable about an eccentric bush. The tube of the turnspout can be moved outwardly or inwardly by way of a pivotal movement. In the one extreme position it disappears completely within an actuating cap. This is the closed position. In the other extreme position it projects to a maximum extent out of a lateral opening in the cap. This is the use position in which liquid can be delivered (poured or squirted) through the turnspout.
A valve in the liquid passage to the turnspout is so actuated that it is open in the use position and closed in the closed position. In the known closure an additional movement of the turnspout is necessary, namely parallel to the closure axis, to actuate the valve so that a plug, which is attached within the tube on the upper wall, can engage in a bush and close it and vice versa. A helical ramp on the plug base and guide curves extending inwardly from the cap base are necessary for this additional upward and downward movement of the turnspout. A relatively large number of components are thus necessary for the actuation of the turnspout in two directions which results in complicated injection molded components.
In addition to the inevitable friction due to the rotary movement of the cap and tube when actuating the turnspout, friction in the axial direction (tube against bush) and friction on the helical ramp also occur so that the closure can only be actuated with the application of considerable force and cannot be actuated at all by frail people.
The height matching of the components which is necessary for the pressing in and turning is difficult due to the great number of the height tolerances which occur. In this connection there are four components to be taken account of, namely the cap, tube, plug and mouth.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,371,827 discloses another container closure with a turnspout in which the turnspout needs only to be displaced in the direction of rotation. In one embodiment thereof (FIGS. 9 to 11) the free outer end of the turnspout may also be shut off, in fact by the actuating cap itself. In the closed position, not only the outer end of the tube but also its inner end are closed off. The tube itself is angled and its lower limb in the use position passes through the base of the closure plug and is pivotable in this base. A projection attached to the inner surface of the cap base serves to move the tube when the cap is rotated.
This has the following disadvantages:
The bent tube can be manufactured integrally of plastics material, only with the aid of a complicated mold, in an injection molding process.
When the closure plug is pressed in and the cap screwed on the cap wall is deformed and thus unsuitable for sealing the outer end of the tube.
The cap impedes the pivotal movement of the tube even at positions where no sealing is necessary, namely during the major portion of the pivotal movement.
A feed pipe for liquid cannot be fitted.